Tag: Melbourne

THE RETIREES SIGHT SEEING IN MELBOURNE 2026

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Monday 10th March Day 5 – Kerry visited a showing of Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons Exhibition at the National Gallery whilst I visited the Shrine of Remembrance.

The exhibition paired British designer Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) of Comme des Garçons. A display of more than 140 ground-breaking designs, the exhibition brought together fashion from international museums and private collections –alongside 100+ works from the National Gallery Collection. Kerry was excited by the promise of something special.

The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.

Designed by architects Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop, both World War I veterans, the Shrine is in classical style, based on the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Built from Tynong granite, the Shrine originally consisted only of the central sanctuary surrounded by the ambulatory. The sanctuary contains the marble Stone of Remembrance, upon which is engraved the words “Greater love hath no man” Once per year, on 11 November at 11 a.m. (Remembrance Day), a ray of sunlight shines through an aperture in the roof to light up the word “Love” in the inscription. Beneath the sanctuary lies the crypt, which contains a bronze statue of two soldiers, father and son, and panels listing every unit of the Australian Imperial Force.

The Shrine went through a prolonged process of development, which began in 1918 with an initial proposal to build a Victorian memorial. General Sir John Monash used the 1927 Anzac Day march to garner support for the Shrine and finally won the support of the Victorian government later that year. The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1927, and the Shrine was officially dedicated on 11 November 1934.

Photos, The Shrine, Opening Day, the crypt – ANZAC cove landing craft, the Sanctuary and the Stone, and the view to the city.

2026.03.27 Shrine of Remembrance MelbourneDownload

Kerry was disappointed with the show at the National Gallery as many of the designs were impractical and impossible to be worn.

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing. Today’s events and the previous 4 days had been quite tiring.

Tuesday Day 6 – We decided to see Melbourne from the Yarra, so we booked a boat trip from Southgate Docks. We boarded the boat and headed to the mouth of the Yarra River. We passed the modern Melbourne through the Southbank Arts and Leisure precinct, the Sea Life Aquarium, Crown Casino, Melbourne convention Centre, then the historic “SS. Polly Woodside” under the Bolte Bridge into the harbour district turning around at Westgate Bridge and returning to the dock. The cruise offered trips to the docks and to the parks and gardens upriver, so we stayed aboard for the 2nd part of our cruise passing the National Tennis centre, Botanic Gardens, Sporting Arenas, historic Cosmo House & Gardens up to Herring Island where the boat about faced and went back to the start.

Photo: copy of the map of the Yarra cruise

cruise map of YarraDownload

After a spot of gaming at the Casino, we headed home to the hotel and rested as we were going to the Comics Lounge at North Melbourne for dinner and a laugh. Trams are the best way around Melbourne proven again by our travelling to the venue without a hitch in the mid-week evening rush from work for Melbournians. We arrived early and whilst Kerry rested her foot (it had been playing up due to the exercise it had endured for the week) I inspected the architecture of North Melbourne – I found a few buildings of interest. Unfortunately, the Comics Lounge did not impress us. The comics thought it necessary to be rude and crude and dinner lacked anything exciting. We pulled up stumps at half time and went home.

Wednesday Day 7 – Kerry had spotted a balloons festival at the Convention Centre and for our last day in Melbourne it struck us as an easy visit to undertake without really knowing what to expect. Well, it was spectacular (funny how the unexpected can be UNEXPECTED). Tens of thousands of ballons twisted into shapes I thought impossible. It delighted the kids attending including these big kids. The most surprising was a little shy girl who was possessed with having to play the drums (no not made from balloons) in one of the sets – no idea what to do but beat the drum.

Photos

It only took an hour to go through the multiple setting from Africa to Australia to the Moon and Space. We both enjoyed the festival and after a coffee we made our way home. Our time in Melbourne was coming to an end. Suitcases to fill and planes to catch as we were due in Perth in 7 days. Next time we will be THE RETIREES AT A CELESTIAL EVENT – PERTH 2026.

THE RETIREES SAIL TO MELBOURNE FOR THE CUP – NOVEMBER 2025

Melbourne Cup 2025

I don’t have great fondness for horse racing generally. My Dad on the other hand enjoyed the mental exercise (he did not place a bet other than on the Melbourne Cup) that racing gave him to try to pick winners and he dedicated a lot of time to finding the formula to pick the winners. Now if he had found the formula and shared it with me, I might have had a different view about horse racing. As he did not find the secret my hunger to follow the “Neddies” has become limited to buying sweep tickets in the Cup.

2025 was going to be different.

With an “all clear” from my doctors, we booked plane tickets to Sydney, and tickets to sail to Melbourne with Carnival Cruises on the SS Carnival Adventure for the race day and then return. The thought even invigorated Kerry to make a new dress. By November she had sold the business leaving her with time to draft the pattern, find the fabric amongst the stockpile she had collected in 40 years of manufacturing dance costumes and produce the race day dress. Little did we know the challenges that would come with the planned adventure and beyond.

The flight to Sydney went smoothly, and we found our ship at dock awaiting the weighing of the anchor. On Board we had a large cabin with its own deck. The cabin was very pleasant in fact as the picture below demonstrates. Even the design with the bathroom tucked away behind the hanging space and cupboards was practical and comfortable. The ship departed Sydney Harbour as my photos below show providing us with a grand view of the Opera House, Naval docks, and the Sydney Heads. Outside of the heads, ocean as far as the eye could see. There were two days at sea and then we found ourselves in Port Phillip tying up at a terminal showing its age.

Photos – Departing Sydney, the Ship, farewell Sydney, our cabin and the terminal in Melbourne.

Carnival Cruises have the reputation of being a party ship. Well, there were not a lot of young people on board and the playgrounds on the upper decks were not filled with screaming children. That suited us. We walked the length and breadth of the ship and following are photos giving you an idea of the facilities aboard ship.

Photos – the Pool deck, Restaurant entertainment, the Night Club, the onboard Mare

We spent two days in Melbourne – one for the Cup and the other roaming around Melbourne. Race day started with a bus trip to Flemington Racecourse and the first indication of the massive crowd I would have to contend with all day. First of all we had to find the seats we had booked under cover and a clear view of the winning post. The throng of people was getting to me but I knew I was here for the day. Kerry had sewn a special frock for the event. Some might say it does not look special but she cut it out, sewed it up and looked very sweet in my view. We both had success with our bets which for us was rather unusual but lifted my mood from the maddening crowd. The pictures of the stands don’t tell the story of the crowds. This is very early on in the day.

Photos – Kerry’s frock, the Stands at Flemington, and some of the runners in the big race.

We returned to the ship again by bus so the bucket list was ticked off for the Melbourne Cup. All in all, the cruise and their organisation to get us to and from the course worked well.

We spent two days in Melbourne – one for the Cup and the other roaming around Melbourne. We went to the Crown Casino (professional interest only as a director of a Licenced Club in Brisbane). On the way we discovered a Chocolate Shop and sat down in the arcade to enjoy a delicious hot chocolate. One of the missing things on board the ship was a good hot choclate. Once the time ashore ended, we sailed back to Sydney. Aside from the entertainments on board ship we occupied our selves by reading. Fortunately we had brought books as the ships library was pathetic. Sailing back to Sydney did seem a waste of time, but it gave us time to relax, read and our return to Melbourne for the Formula 1 race in March. Little did we know that fate would dash those plans. It all started with preparations for Christmas – you need to read about it in THE RETIREES PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS 2025. .

The Retirees go to Melbourne – Kinky Boots

Whilst in the UK we heard or saw the story of a 3rd generation family owned boot company which was struggling and at risk of going under. So, when Kerry saw that “Kinky Boots” was coming to Melbourne we were keen to go and see the musical. Secondly the music for the story was written by Cyndi Lauper – one of Kerry’s favourite singers.

We flew down on the Thursday morning with the view of having the weekend in Melbourne to finally catch up with pseudo son Damian, Barbara and their daughter Chloe and Kerry’s niece Aimee and her partner Joel. Thursday night we went to the show at the Her Majestys Theatre in Exhibition St. The performance was great. Kerry was disappointed with the seats but that might be the result of allowing an agency to do the booking for you – lesson for next time.

We had no plans for Friday. Melbourne has a tourist circuit bus which gives you a hop on hop off facility for two days for the grand price of $10 per person. Stop 4 is in Exhibition St where we were staying at the Mantra Apartment Hotel. So, we travelled on the bus getting off at Victoria Markets to browse through the extensive offering of everything. We reboarded the bus and travelled down to Docklands for a bit of shopping and to see the changes.

“the throne room”
the throne
Part of the interior artwork
Ceiling of the patio
History of the Icon

Docklands has some unusual street art which is all very different. Like the squatting red figures and the “termite mounds”. You also have some dramatic views of the Melbourne CBD skyline. We walked through Docklands to the Old Woolshed Pub for a bite of lunch. Great use of former warehouses but later in the day we saw on the news that just after we left the pub and caught the bus again the Woolshed Pub was destroyed by fire. Just a coincidence! Anyway, our journey ended at the base of the Eureka Tower to visit the viewing platform on the 88 floor and Kerry saw this;

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
inside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

The Trike journey started in the office and then for 2 to 3 hours we travelled around Albert Park (the track, the swans and their signets, and the skyline) following the F1 track and then down to St Kilda, Brighton Beach (for an ice cream and view the beach huts and the Melbourne skyline) and Black Rock (the Melbourne skyline). Kerry loved the acceleration as Clive our driver and guide manoeuvred through Friday evening Melbourne traffic. With the ride finished we returned to our apartment to plan our Saturday.

inside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
inside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
inside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
walking around the inner wall
From the plaza at the rear of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
inside the walls
the ravaged southern walls

The morning started with a visit to some of Melbourne’s famous lanes and then lunch with Damian and Chloe at a new hotel in Collingwood. Chloe very quickly lost her shyness and interacted with us as old friends. Later Damian (who owns and runs a music agency) informed Kerry that he could get tickets for us to see Goldie Hawn on Monday evening and before I knew it the deal was done (mucking up some engagements I had arranged for Tuesday but…). That evening we visited Melbourne’s Comic Lounge in Errol St North Melbourne. Dinner and show for $55 per head was good value and the show was great. Five acts with each comedian bringing a different flavour to the evening.

walking around the inner wall
the front row seats
the underground passages under the arena
two of the tourists
reconstructed arena
cross erected in 18th century
the bigger picture

Sunday and we met Aimee and Joel and travelled to the Bellarine Peninsula outside of Geelong – new territory for us. It took about an hour which gave us plenty of time to catch up. As we drove towards Basil’s Farm we saw the signs to Scotchmans Hill. No question – we had to go to the cellar door.

Palatine Hill
Imperial Arch outside the Colosseum

After tasting for an hour and purchasing some for Ron (later on), we moved on to Basil’s Farm for lunch. The menu included many of the fruits and vegetables grown on the farm. The bouillabaisse included Tasmanian seafood and the cheese platter that followed was all local product. We could not miss the cellar door and spent 40 to 50 minutes there taking some samples for later. Lovely way to spend a Sunday.

Approaching the Colosseum
underground passages
arch of Titus
one of the entrances for the Romans

Monday morning, we returned to the lanes of Melbourne. As we had to check out of the hotel, visit Suzie and move to Aimee’s place we returned to the hotel checked out and then took a cab to Middle Park. Suzie, an old friend was babysitting for her daughter and had noticed we were in Melbourne from Facebook postings. Morning tea and lunch with Suzie and both her daughters who turned up for various reasons and we arranged travelling to Aimee’s place.

the Basilica of Maxentius

Tuesday we caught the tram back to the city ending up at the National Gallery of Victoria. Located in Federation Square, the gallery displays some of the most important pieces of Australian early art – artists like Roberts, Conder McCubbin and Boyd. We spent a few hours here only able to see the early Australian collection and the collection of some of the donors to the gallery. Hours more too see. We returned to our temporary home to prepare for the show at the Regent Theatre. Damian surprised us at the theatre and we went to dinner before viewing Peter Hellier and Goldie Hawn having a chat on a couch for an hour or so. It was interesting but we had seen Billy Crystal in the same format in Brissie and I preferred that.

So, that ended our Melbourne trip. The next morning, we returned to Brisbane. Our next tour will be to Auckland in a few weeks.